Week of 1st April
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. Ps 1:1a,3
You Lord, are the source of all good things:
We praise you.
You call us to tend and care for your creation:
May we strive to do your will.
You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:
May we live together in peace.
A Reading Psalm 95: 1-5
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
Each Friday during Lent we will focus on a different continent; this week Asia.
Asia (the eastern half of the Eurasian supercontinent) is the largest of the world’s continents, covering approximately 30 percent of the Earth’s land area. It is also the world’s most populous continent, with roughly 60 percent of the total population. It comprises five major physical regions: mountain systems; plateaus; plains, steppes, and deserts; freshwater environments; and saltwater environments. The Himalayas are so vast that they are composed of three different mountain belts. The northernmost belt, known as the Great Himalayas, has the highest average elevation and includes Mount Everest, which stands at 8,849m. The glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau contain the largest volume of ice outside the poles and feed Asia’s largest rivers. Approximately 2 billion people depend on the rivers. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, containing 20 percent of the world’s unfrozen freshwater. It is also the world’s oldest lake, at 25 million years old. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/asia/
Glory to God
Creator of mountains and glaciers:
We praise you for the awe and wonder of these regions,
their reminder that we are but humans.
We thank you for the life giving water they provide for peoples far below.
Glory to God
Creator of rivers and wetlands:
We praise you for the Tigris and the Euphrates,
for the Fertile Crescent and the roots of human civilisation.
We praise you for the Ganges and Brahamaputra rivers,
and for the biodiversity of the Sundarban wetland with its huge mangrove forest.
Glory to God,
Creator of Steppes and deserts:
We praise you the ingenuity of animals and peoples, adapting to the extremes of climate.
We praise you for yaks and bactrian camels and for livelihoods sustained by trade.
Glory to God,
Creator of flora and fauna:
We praise you for rich diversity of flora, for the many fruit trees – oranges and peaches –
and the beautiful flowers of China – roses and camellias, peonies and hibiscus.
We praise you for the wildlife of the Sundarban wetlands – birds and monkeys, monitor lizards and Bengal tigers.
Merciful God,
Creator of human kind,
Forgive our greed that destroys ancient forests in favour of logging for timber and wood pulp.
Forgive our greed that destroys biodiverse rain forests in favour of oil palm plantations.
Merciful God,
Creator of our brothers and sisters:
Forgive the casualness with which we ignore their plight when faced with war and oppression,
their poverty when corporate greed takes away their livelihoods
and their hunger when climate change decimates their crops.
Merciful God,
Creator of climates and seasons,
Forgive our foolishness that creates both drought and flood.
Forgive our foolishness that destroys mangroves that protect shorelines
and the forests that stabilise soils and lock in carbon
Guiding God,
Source of all wisdom,
Transform our hearts and minds, turn the direction of our hands and feet
so that with alacrity and commitment we will reform our lives
and live only in harmony with your creation.
Amen.
The Grace
The Green Tau 